Abstract
The present study aimed at studying the effect of dietary calcium and protein on the development and growth of the mandible in weanling rats. In the current study, forty 3-week-old male Wister rats, corresponding to the weanling period in humans, were used. They were divided randomly into four groups. The control group was fed on a standard diet for fourteen weeks, and the experimental groups were fed on calcium deficient diet, low calcium diet and high protein diet, respectively. After four weeks, all of them were fed on a standard diet for ten weeks. The effects of diet on the mandibular with respect to morphology and density in weanling rats were investigated, using computed X-ray densitometry and cephlometry. The results were as follows.
1. Weight
There is no significant difference among four groups.
2. Cephalometry
The calcium deficient group showed a significantly smaller mandibular form than the control group (p<0.05).
3. Densitometry
A significant difference was only found between the control and the calcium deficient group with respect to bone density (p<0.05).
